Family members who provide care for those they love share a lot of common traits: selflessness, patience, and compassion, for example. Unfortunately, many caregivers share another, often unspoken, characteristic that needs resolving: caregiver guilt.
Unresolved feelings of guilt can be detrimental to the physical and emotional wellbeing of caregivers, and can also be harmful to their care receivers. It’s important for caregivers to not only acknowledge these feelings, but to understand that there are resources available to help you with resolving caregiver guilt :
Reinforce the positives. It’s easy for caregivers to fall into the trap of negative thinking, such as feeling as though they’re not doing enough for their loved ones. Creating a list of positive messages to counter those thoughts, such as the ones below, and posting them in a prominent place, can help caregivers restore healthy thought patterns:
- I am doing enough
- I give myself permission to care for myself
- I give myself permission to feel good and feel bad
- I will not let my emotions dictate the choices I make
- I will refrain from harsh judgement of myself for letting the past dictate my present
- It’s ok to make mistakes
- I will take one day at a time and not borrow worry from the future
- The decisions I make are the best ones possible given the information and support I have at the time
- I’m making a positive impact on the life of my loved one
Set aside personal time. Finding time for enjoyable, relaxing activities is challenging for caregivers whose lives are overflowing with care tasks, but it’s vitally important to allow trusted friends, family members, or professional in-home care staff to provide regular respite. Even just an hour each day of uninterrupted personal time to read, exercise, or engage in a hobby or favorite pastime can make a world of difference.
Reach out for support. Connecting with others in similar caregiving roles who can empathize and lend support can help prevent feelings of guilt and isolation. Sometimes, the best medicine is sharing a heartfelt, “Me too!” with someone in similar shoes. There are a variety of online caregiver support resources, making it easy to network without the need to leave home, such as:
There’s perhaps nothing more admirable than caring for someone in a time of need, and it can provide a wealth of satisfaction and fulfillment when carefully balanced with self-care. As a top-rated provider of at home care in Boca Raton, FL and the surrounding areas, our team of professional caregivers can partner with family caregivers to ensure that seamless, high quality care is provided at all times, offering family members that all-important time away to relax and refresh.
To learn more about at home care in Boca Raton and the surrounding areas, contact our team at 561-955-6010.